Thursday, March 5, 2009
In 4 years time...
[Background music : Soulmate by Natasya Bedingfield]
She was walking along the path in the campus when she saw him. Leaning against a tree a little bit off the path, probably waiting for someone. He wore a classic blue Padini shirt and faded blue jeans. In 4 years, he hadn’t changed much, except for the hairstyle. She decided to walk over and say hello.
“Hey there stranger, it’s been a while,” she said, giving him her brightest smile.
He looked back at her, surprise and slight suspicion in his face. He smiled nevertheless.
“Have we met before?” he asked cautiously.
She couldn’t help herself. Her face fell a little and she fought for composure. “You don’t remember me?” she asked playfully, hoping to hide the disappointment from her voice. She took off her sunglasses and placed it on her head. “Nothing?” she asked with a smile.
“No,” he answered regrettably, after a moment, as if he knew he said the wrong thing. “Am I supposed to?” he grinned sheepishly.
He really did not remember, she realized as she looked into his eyes, those brown pools that she could see whenever she closed her eyes. She wondered, briefly, if it was worth reminding him, revealing herself and opening herself up for the truth and quite possibly more hurt. Where it would get her, she wondered. It was four years later after all. She forced away the disappointment. So much the same and yet, so much changes. He still took her breath away.
“Do I know you?” he asked, intrigued by her silence and the sudden, sad look in her eyes.
Her face nagged at his memory, reminding him of someone a long time ago. But as he tried to capture it, to try to figure out the answer to his question, it only eluded him farther, leaving him grasping at empty space and looking into sad brown eyes.
She smiled softly, not really hearing him. She looked into his eyes and held her breath as she let the memories wash over her. “Maybe you do,” she answered as she let herself remember. She remembered the laughter, and the tears, the jokes, the lessons and the fears. She remembered high school, with all it’s glitz and its glitter, and secrets and trials. For a moment, she was 16 again instead of 20 and the man before her was a friend. She remembered his smiles, the inside jokes and their little game. The feelings that came with the memories came back with such a poignant rush she was almost knocked over.
“Mind giving me a clue then?” he teased when she continued to stare off past him with the same far away look.
His voice brought her back to the present. Slowly focus came back into her eyes and she released the breath she had kept inside. She blinked slowly, as if gathering her bearings. She looked at the smiling and mildly confused face before her and realized that he waited for an answer. She felt for her sunglasses and started to place them over her eyes. “I’m just… someone you…. used to know,” she said wistfully. As she turned to go, she lightly placed her hand on his arm, not knowing if she meant to reassure or as a thanks. The sunglasses covered her eyes now and hid her watery eyes. Behind them she said her silent goodbye. She forced a smile on her face as she slowly stepped back, waving her hand as she talked. “Just a forgotten face from your past,” she said softly to herself. She could tell that he wanted to know, but she wouldn’t be the one to tell him.
“A face perhaps better left unremembered,” she whispered to herself as she stepped back on the path she left behind only moments before.
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3:33 PM
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3:33 PM
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